A Project Management of the Emirates Stadium - Case Study Example

Project Analysis Report: The Emirates Stadium Name Professor Institution Course Date Project Analysis Report: The Emirates Stadium Executive Summary Ashburton Grove otherwise called Emirates Stadium for sponsorship reasons is a football stadium and home to Arsenal Football Club. This 60,361 capacity stadium is situated in Islington, London, England. The capacity of their former stadium, Highbury, had become inadequate compared to other state of the art modern stadium and thus expansions were considered. Arsenal management began exploring the likelihood of moving to a new stadium in 1997, after being denied expansion permission of Highbury by the Islington Council. After looking at various different options, in 2000, Arsenal decided on acquiring a waste disposal and industrial estate in Ashburton Grove and presented their proposal to the public. One of the strategies was to conserve the environment. The ground breaking began in 2003 while real construction of this stadium started in February 2004. Emirates Stadium was first opened in July 2006 meaning the project took 3 years and four to be completed. The stakeholder in this project consisted of Sir Robert McAlpine, HOK Sport, Prater Ltd, Buro Happold Company, local community residents and supporters. However, during its construction, the stadium did not escape challenges such as conflict from fans and other construction concerns. Table of Contents Project Analysis Report: The Emirates Stadium 2 Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 1.0 Introduction 4 2.0 Stakeholder analysis 5 2.1 Sir Robert McAlpine 5 2.2 HOK Sport 5 2.3 Buro Happold Company 6 2.4 Prater Ltd 6 2.5 The local residents 6 3.0 Project description 7 4.0 The Problem 8 5.0 Recommendation 8 6.0 Conclusion 9 7.0 References 10 1.0 Introduction The Emirates Stadium is a ‘top flight’ football stadium situated at Islington London and is the present home of Arsenal Football Club (DesignBuild-Network 2008). Proposals and plan for this new stadium were originally made in 1996 to expand the capacity since Highbury Stadium become small for a competitive club like Arsenal FC. However their proposal was denied by Islington Council due to environmental concerns residential amenities and surrounding transport making them to explore new options. In 2000, Sir Robert McAlpine company signed a contract to design, construct and build a 60,000-seater stadium for Arsenal at Ashburton Grove site (Sir Robert McAlpine 2006). So as for Arsenal Football Club to finance this estimated £390m project, the sale of the surplus land assets was required to facilitate their financiers to offer adequate supporting benefits for a case in getting a sufficient loan to finance the remainder. The project began in February 2004 and ended with opening in July 2006. Arcadis (2006) stated earlier in 2004, when the project was beginning, the Ashburton Properties, Arsenal Holdings’ subservient, was established so as obtain to a loan more than £200m a bank which focuses in stadium funding and management. The whole project was built at a cost of 390 million pounds. This project also entailed generation scheme that considered housing, community health care facility, a waste recycling plant, public transport and museum step ups. The scheme is said to have created nearly 1,850 jobs, more than 2,100 new homes and lever about £400m into that area, aside from the £390 allocated for that The Emirates Stadium (Arcadis 2006). 2.0 Stakeholder analysis Construction of Emirates stadium started rapidly after the tender was signed in early 2004. One of the leading UK civil and building engineering firms, Sir Robert McAlpine got contract as the major contractor to design and build the stadium. Other stake holders in this project include HOK Sport, Prater Ltd, Buro Happold Company, local community residents and supporters. 2.1 Sir Robert McAlpine After proposal and agreement reached to construct at the new stadium at Ashburton Grove site, the contract was awarded to a reputable leading construction company, Sir Robert McAlpine in 2004 as the main contractor (Sir Robert McAlpine 2006). The company signed an agreement to design and put up a 60,000-seater stadium. The contract strategy referred to as Design and Build believed to be the best in consideration of time constraint (Chan & Yu-ann 2005, p.8). Their Design and Build approach involved design and construction overlapping phases leading to the economics and rapid project. SRM has constructed similar projects in the past e.g. Hampden Park in Glasgow and the Centenary Stand at West Ham United FC (Smith, Merna & Jobling 2006). 2.2 HOK Sport HOK Sport now known as Global designs practice 'Populous' was given the responsibility of architecture and designing of the Emirates Stadium. They are well known to have been and are presently leading architects on numerous great projects of the same magnitude all over the UK and other countries across the world (Arcadis 2006). Such project includes the Wembley Stadium in London, Millennium Stadium and Cardiff in Wales, and the Incheon Stadium in South Korea. 2.3 Buro Happold Company This is a consultant Engineers Company based in the UK which offered structural and engineering design solutions to the Emirates Stadium (Arcadis 2006). Buro Happold has engineering expertise in designing the structure and form of the stadium. During construction, this company was thoroughly evaluated so as to "reduce the environmental effects and reflect the desires of the local residents". One most clear design and structural solutions offered by this company to fulfill project goals was the clear sloping roof which formed a natural dish-like structure of which is argued to offer a micro-climate to the stadium (Arcadis 2006). 2.4 Prater Ltd This company was contracted to carry out roofing of the stadium. The roofing system was created by aluminium mill finish and the soffit tray system to integrate the bowl lighting and PA system. As every segment of the soffits was integrated, Prater created a metal deck on the top flanges of the steel beams structure then included plywood decking. 2.5 The local residents Residents just like supporters the local resident is impacted by environmental concerns; it offers jobs and is a sign of development which benefits them. Despite the team’s presence in Islington town for more than 80 years, some locals and businesses opposed the construction of the new stadium citing health and safety concerns. The local residents even moved to court to block the construction in 2002 and lost the lawsuit (Arcadis 2006). At one point health and safety certificate could not be given out unless the stadium fulfills the conditions, under which the Emirates stadium could not be open without the certificate. 3.0 Project description The project strategy employed in putting up of the Emirate Stadium is referred to as Design and Build. The form of contract is considered to be the out outstanding with regard to time constraint. This design and build strategy involved overlapping of planning and construction stages leading to economics and quick project, although the client had to limit variation to minimum, establish evaluation difficulties and also had to settle in for early decisions (PMI 2004). The Emirates stadium is considered a four-tiered bowl with roofing above the stands but not above the playing field. As the main constructor Sir Robert McAlpine was charged with bringing together other contractors and the design team including HOK Sport currently named Populous, Prater Ltd and the engineering company Buro Happold (Arcadis 2006). Communication channel was to be maintained to ensure that all the phases are covered as intended in the plan. To avoid the conflict with the community, the contactors started with construction of waste and recycling center in 2004. At the time of the conclusion of project, 90 businesses were relocated, 2500 new jobs created, 2100 new homes was offered, and 5 new community healthcare facilities put in place (Chan & Yu-ann 2005). To deliver this impressive, Buro Happold formed a team that created and completed structural design proposals and later delivered comprehensive construction information and a completely coordinated 3D model to Sir Robert McAlpine (Chan & Yu-ann 2005). Employing an entirely integrated model, critical and informed design decisions were considered at the time of the design development stage, and this guaranteed co-ordination and consistency of the stadium project at the early stages; minimizing costs, predictability and project risk. The project was carried out within the cost plan and on time. The project is considered a success by reference to its realization of project goals in the set time frame, at the projected cost and to the performance and quality needed (Arcadis 2006). 4.0 The Problem The emirate being the third largest after Wembley and Old Trafford means that the stadium needed a large budget to complete (Arcadis 2006). Financing this project became difficult because Arsenal was not awarded a public subsidy by the UK government and they had sought other means to create income, by embracing a strategy of buying players at a low cost whilst selling high. The local residents were opposed to the construction of the project citing health and safety issues. This matter was resolved in court and the club was allowed to construct the stadium while putting the safety measures. The club first constructed a waste and recycling plant before the project itself. Time constraints were a factor. Delivering this project on time was very critical to allow Arsenal club to participate in their football season. Kerzner (2006) argues that delivery of a project within the stipulated time is a very significant objective for the user including evading the risk of being withheld with regard to reliability and quality of being within the budget although most time majority of objectives of the project may be fulfilled. According to Chan &Yu-ann (2005, p.8) the design and build strategy used has also been criticized for being cost driven than quality. 5.0 Recommendation Although the project faced challenges its life circle, the Emirates Stadium can be considered a successful project in terms of planning and performance. However, the management must address conflict that was raised by local community like the health, environment and safety concerns. In future, the project team involved in the Emirates stadium at Innovation level must plans for funds enough to complete the project. The project team must also collect information from the resident earlier to avoid conflict that can arise at the last minute. 6.0 Conclusion In conclusion, the construction of the Emirates Stadium demonstrated in principle and context, is a perfect contribution to best practice strategy and deployment in the construction stadium, certainly with particular adjustments as best fits for the project being worked on. The Emirates stadium is a perfect case as to the manner a project can be managed in relations of plan, resources, expectations and scope. It considered that a project management is an applied aspect and but not abstract discipline and cooperation between supply chain management and stakeholder’s needs. 7.0 References Arcadis, AYH 2006, Professional Services: Property: Lifestyle: Stadia & Sports: Projects: Emirates Stadium, viewed 3rd Oct 2013 from http://www.ayh.com/Service+Types/Property/Lifestyle/Stadia+and+Sports+/Projects/Emi rates+Stadium.htm Chan, E & Yu-ann, T 2005, Contract Strategy for Design Management in Design and Build, International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 23, No. 8, p. 23-67. DesignBuild-Network 2008, Projects: Emirates Stadium, Ashburton Grove, London, United Kingdom, viewed 3rd Oct 2013 from http://www.designbuild- network.com/projects/ashburton/ Kerzner, H 2006, Project Management: A System Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling, New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons Inc. PMI Project Management Institution 2004, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, 3rd edn, (USA) Pennsylvania Sir Robert McAlpine 2006, Projects: Emirates Stadium, viewed 3rd Oct 2013 from http://www.sir-robert-mcalpine.com/projects/?id=489 Smith, N., Merna, T & Jobling P 2006, Managing Risk in Construction Project, London, Blackwell Publisher, Ltd. Read More